Ribbon-feed mechanism.



' B. F. HUTGHBS, JR.

RIBBON FEED MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2, 1911.

1,033,246, I Patented July 23, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Wfl/IIIA Siwa n loz 13. F. HUTGES, 11i. RIBBON FEED MEGHANISM.

` APPLioATIoN FILED MAB. 2, 1911. 1,033,246. l Patented July 23, 1912.

" K. z sHEnTs-sHE1112- Hiv ' passes the ribbon. 15,'the latter being con- UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFF-ion.

BENJAMIN r. Humans', .13.,01 AiLLENDLE, NEW JERSEY.

. RIBBoNJEEn-MECHANISM.

Spec'ication of Letters Patent. .Application iled March 2, 1911. Serial No. 611,812.

Patented July 23,1912.

To cZZ whom it concern: l

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. HU'iCHEs, J r., a citiz'en of the United. States,

residing at Allendale, county of Bergen, and

State ofrNew Jersey, have invented a new and. Improved Ribbon-F eed Mechanism., of which the following is-a specification. Y

' This invention lrelates to novel means for advancing the ribbon of typewriters and for automatically reversing its movement after being completely unwound from one of the ribbon carrying spools.

The device is shown to be applied to a socalled visible typewriter in which a ver- 2 a vplan of the. ribbon feed mechanism.

proper; Fig.I 3 a vertical longitudinal section on line 3 3, Fig. 2;y Fig. 4 a cross section on line "f1-4:; Fig. 2; Fig. 5 a detail of the feed bar, and Fig. 6 an enlarged cross section on line 6 6, Fig. 2.'

The numeral 10 indicates 'a platen which hung in the typewriter frame 11 and receives intermittent rotary movement nsuitable manner. i In front of platen 10' and backof the usual type-guide ,12 is arranged a. vertically reciprocative antennaorzmember 13 through recesses-14 of which fined to said recesses by upright pins 16. Antenna 13 may receive the necessary movement by any suitable means which do not ,forin' part 'of 'the present invention;V The drawing shows a universal bar 17 so arranged relatively to the type-levers 18 that upon the ascent of the levers, their shoulders 19 will force said bar backward. ToV

writing operation.

.been almost completely unwound from one bar 17 is attached one end of a rearwardly extending arm 20, the other. end of which 1s fulcrumed to a swinging arm` 21. Ina

fixed bearing 22 is journaled a two arm le-v ver 23 the upper' arm of which carries a pin 254 straddled by a fork 25 that is irmly secured to arm 20 and yparticipates in the horizontal reciprocation thereof.- The lower bent arm of lever 23 terminates in a Vforli 26 that engages a lower transverse p in 27 of.

antenna 13. Type lever 18 receives its Ino-v f tion by the usual key lever 28 `influenced by spring 29 and connectedto vlever 18 by ell i bow lever 30.. It will be seen that upon l I' i each depression of a key, universal bar 117 is shifted backward to tilt lever 23- and vthereby raise antenna 13 together with ribbon l5. Upon the release of the key,the

parts return to the position shown in. Fig... l 1, a suitable spring (not shown) shifting bar 17 forward intol its position of rest. `The above described vertically reciprocative movement of antenna 13 is utilized in the following manner for feeding the ribbon:

To the typewriter frame 11, is secured.,by

screws 31, a sectional baseor holder'B, .com-

prising essentially a pair of preferably horizontal plates-'32 which are connected by a tube 33 secured 'to standards 34 of saidl plates.' Into each plate 32 is tapped a vertically extending screw 35 upon which are free to. turn-a ratchet wheel 36 and a shipping lever 37 located respectively above and below'. plate 32.4 Upon the u wardly protruding cylindrical end ofl screw 35 is removably fitted a ribbon spool-38 having av pin 39 that engages a corresponding socket 40 of wheel 36 so asgto cause the spool and wheel to rotate in unison. Toithecores 41 of spools 38 are secured the ends of `ribbon 15the latter being of such a length as to" lill a single spool. ,By slowly and intermit' tentiv winding A'the' ribbon upon the otherl spoo ,-ist' is'drawn' over antenna 13v to be paed'in .'front. of laten 10 during the fter the ribbon has spool, its movement is automatically reversed which lay is repeated until ythe igf.

ment df the ribbon has beenv 'exhauste l adapted to rying a pawl 48 that extends upward through a slot 49 of plate 32 for engagement with the corresponding ratchet wheel 3G. The construction is such that pawls 48 cngage alternately their respective ratchet wheels, or in other words when one pawl engages its ratchet wheel, the other pawl is thrown out of For this purpose the shippingA levers 37 hereinabove referred to are provided, which when swung Jforward engage members 4T a d thereby push pawls 4S out of engage-` mnt with their respective ratchet wheels 36. Each lever 37 is provided with a prererably sector-shaped arm 50 carrying an eye or guide 51 that projects upwardlythrough a corresponding slot 52 of plate 32 and through which ribbon 15 is threaded. Arms 50 are further provided with apertures 53 accommodating pins 54 that depend from the ends of a shipping bar slidable in tube 33. Bar 55 is provided with a pair of adjoining V-shaped notches 56 that are be engaged by a tapering detent 57 .iniuenced by a spring 58. Fig. 2 illustrates the position the parts occupy 'when the ribbon l5 is intermittently fed toward the right (Fig. 2) by the hereinabove described vertical reciprocat-ion of ant-enna 13. As the diameter of the right hand spool 38 gradually increases while that of the left hand spool decreases, eyes 51 will cause their sectors 50 and shipping levers 37 to turn in the direction of the arrows indicated in Fig. 2 and to simultaneously move bar 55 toward the right. Vhen the unwinding of the ribbon from the left hand spool 38 lis nearly completed, the rotation of the sectors and the movement of bar 55 will have proceeded -to such an extent that detent 57 has been pushed out of one of the notches 56 and has passed the crest between the notches, thereby ermitting spring 58 to project the detent into the other notch. The sudden movement toward the right thus imparted to bar 55 will cause shipping levers 37 to receive a quick final movement in the direction of the arrows, whereby the right hand pawl 48 is thrown out of engagement with its ratchet wheel 36, while the left hand pawl is simultaneously brought into engagement with its ratchet wheel, The ribbon will now be rewound upon the lett engagement with its wheel.`

hand spool until the ribbon on the right hand spool has become exhausted, whereupon its -movement 1s automatlcally reversed 'in the "manner described.

lt will be seen thatmy ribbon feed mechanism is of simple construction and requires but a minimum number of parts for automatically reciprocating the ribbon. The various parts may be assembled without the typewriter and may be quickly set, into the latter by tightening screws 31. Owing to the absence of all bevel gears and similar transmissions hitherto generally employed, friction is diminished, so that the manual power necessary for operating the typel writer is considerably reduced. I claim:

1. A ribbon feed mechanism comprising a pair of Jfeed levers, resilient members on lsaid levers, pawls carried by said members,

ratchet wheels adapted to be engaged by the pawls, spools removably fitted to the ratchet wheels and adapted to carry a ribbon, shipping levers adapted to engage the resilient members and having sector-shaped perfo-. rated arms, ribbon guides carried by said arms, a shipping bar having depending pins that engage the arm-perforations, and' means for throwing said bar.

2. A ribbon feed mechanism comprising a pair of feed levers, resilient members on said levers, pawls carried by said members, ratchet wheels adapted to be engaged bythe pawls, spools removably fitted to the ratchet Wheels and Aadapted to carry a ribbon, shipping levers adapted to engage the resilient members and having sector-shaped perforated arms, ribbon guides carried by said arms, a notched shipping bar having depending pins that engage the arm perforat-ions, and a spring-influenced detent engaging the bar-notches.

' 3. A ribbon feed mechanism comprising a reciprocative member actuated by a typewriter key, a lever having an inclined abutment that is adapted to he engaged by said member, and a ribbon spool operatively connected to said lever.

4. A ribbon feed mechanism comprising a reciprocative member actuated by a typewriter key, a pair ot levers having inclined abutmcnts that are adapted to be engaged by said member, pawls on said levers,'ratchet wheels adapted to be engaged by the pawls, and ribbon carrying spools connected to the ratchet wheels.

5. A ribbon vfeed mechanism comprising a reciprocative member actuated by a typewriter key, a pair of levers having inclined abut-ments that are adapted to be engaged by said member, pawls on said levers, ratchet heels-adapted to bc engaged by the pawls,- spools connected Ato the ratchet wheels and adapted to receive a ribbon, and means controlled byvsaid 4ribbon for throwingthe pawls in parallelism therewith, a vertically recipinto or out of 'engagement with their rerocatve ribbon guide, and means actuated spective ratchet wheels. by said guide for operating the spools.

6. In a ribbon-feed mechanism, a type- BENJAMIN l". HUTCHES, JR. 5 Writer frame, a horizontally disposed holder lWitnesses:

removably secured thereto,'a pair ofribbon ARTHUR E. ZUMPE, spools carried by the holder and rotatable KATHERYNE KOCH.

Copies of this patent may belobtainied for ive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

- Washington, D. 0. 

